3 Little Known Facts about Fish: Heart #HealthyRecipe

Kristi: Here fishy fishy! I grew up eating fish, but in Mo. we had canned salmon or catfish. Not a large selection to choose from. Or maybe we were just more of a meat and potato family. I know my Dad sure loved his Ribeye and T-bone steak.

Miriam: I grew up eating tons of fish and seafood. Being so close to the ocean I learned how to clean a fish when I was just a little girl. It was a family affair, fishing, cleaning and then a big feast with the rest of the family on the beach.

Kristi: Well we did have a similar experience in the Midwest, it just usually surrounded a fish fry. I don’t eat fried fish usually now, unless I can find an English Pub that will hand batter them. That’s a real treat.

Miriam: You wanted to share this information with our readers after talking with your brother the other day about buying fish in the market. Can you tell us what you were talking about.

Kristi: Yes. My brother is in the meat industry and we were discussing the fish and how to make sure that the fish is fresh when you buy in the store. Of course the same goes for buying at a fish market. I had been to a local store and the wild salmon was on sale so I wanted to get a couple of pounds. When I got there the salmon looked like it was mushy on top. I asked the man behind the counter about it he said that salmon was just like that, that was the way salmon was.

Miriam: Well you knew something was fishy!

Kristi: Yep. So I asked my brother and he said that fresh fish is Never mushy, whether its salmon or not. But, there is an exception to every rule. He said that the salmon could have been fresh but that the salmon had been so mishandled and knocked around it would damaged the flesh.

Miriam: Tell them the little trick he taught you.

Kristi: Oh yes, he said when you find a piece of fish you like, ask the counter person to touch the piece of fish with their fingertip. If they leave an indention that does not spring back up then you know the fish is mushy.

Miriam: Of course this trick only works if you are buying the fish that is not already cooked or seasoned. I have noticed a lot of grocers are now selling the fish with special blends of seasoning on the outside so you just take it home and cook it. The problem to watch out for when you buy things preseason-ed, you usually increase your sodium content as well as MSG. If you start pilling on the sodium and chemicals you just sank the healthy part of eating fish!

Miriam: Speaking of healthy part of eating fish there are certain fish that they recommend that you eat to avoid high levels of mercury and of course they always recommend you eat wild fish versus farmed fish as the fish are free of contaminants and antibiotics.

Fish-ercise: It’s more like Jazzercise than Zumba, or in the fish’s opinion it’s more like an obstacle coarse for training in the Marines! River fish get more exercise since they swim against currents and taste better than lake fish who just kinda take it easy and float in an inner-tube around the lake all day.

Hate fish bones? Who hasn’t had one caught in their throat at one time or another? Well if you hate dealing with the thin sliver bones, usually the ones grabbing your larynx, then only eat saltwater fish. Saltwater fish have bigger bones that are easier to find when chowing down. The reason that saltwater fish have bigger bones is that the salt water is more boyant than fresh water and the saltwater fish bones are more dense.

“According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture – 2010, approximately 62% of all farmed seafood in the world is produced in China, 26% in Asia outside of China, 4.5% from Europe, and 4.5 percent from the Americas”. –NOAA Fisheries

#ChefSecret

Never flip your fillet. Fillets are very thin and will cook very nicely just cooked on one side. Usually if you try to flip them they will flake apart and end up in chunks. Nice for serving in bits over rice like I like, but not too good if you want to serve whole with a veg.

Add our Lime Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil to the pan first then add a bit to the top of the fillet and cook till done. Boom Pow delish in a dish!

Heart Healthy Salmon Recipe

1 Wild Salmon Filet

2 Tablespoons Original Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil

Fresh organic greens

Grape tomatoes, onions, plantain, quinoa

A.) Put Canary Island Olive Oil in the pan with garlic clove (optional) and turn on Medium heat and when oil starts to heat up add the salmon and cook for 4 minutes. Drizzle a bit more of the Canary Island Olive Oil on top of fish if you desire and flip and cook 3-4 more minutes till flesh is firm.

B.) In this picture it was served with a big organic salad and quinoa tomatoes and slivered onions. A drizzle of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (only vinegar we use) and a sprinkle of Celtic Sea Salt. ( the only salt we recommend)

I love eating all my meals on top of a salad. Miriam came up with that idea to help me lose weight, because I never was one to eat a salad. And dern if it didn’t work. I’ve kept the weight off, and the flavor can’t get much better, a Splash of Canary Island Olive Oil makes everything, lipsmacking!

Talk soon and remember to share with your friends and family and leave us a comment. Take good care and we will talk next time, thank you for spending time with us!

Thank you thank you! Our Passion is real ingredients for real people. It’s funny when we opened our restaurant 22 years ago my business partner told me not to tell anybody that we served healthy food! Back then people in Florida in our area weren’t into healthy. We gave them such outrageous flavor that they were so distracted enjoying the food they didn’t realize it was healthy! That’s why Miriam created our olive oil company. To make it easier for use to give mouthwatering flavor without the work 🙂

Even today, if people hear a restaurant offers “healthy food options,” many will think twice about trying it. People want to spend their money on:
1. Taste
2. Value
If the meals are LARGE, they “enjoy” them more. This is such a dangerous concept.

You are providing an important service and product by showing your patrons that food quality, flavor and value are not sacrificed when eating HEALTHY.
Stay passionate and purposeful by providing an important service and product (REAL FOOD and its health benefits) to your patrons.